Embrace the Chat

To hangout is a great thought. At the end of a long day, we would often like to just hangout. There are times when we want to hangout with our friends or go to our favorite hangout for something to eat or drink. On television, the cast of Cheers built eleven seasons around a hangout. Looking to the dictionary, we find a hangout is a place one frequently visits.  Even before technology, people have wanted to hangout!

For us, in our classrooms, a hangout takes on a new dimension. Google has helped mold the word AND the world of instant messaging into something new, something bigger, something refreshing, and most certainly another tool for use in our classroom.

In 1997, AOL Instant Messenger stormed onto the scene and people loved chatting with their friends. By 2005, AIM had around 53 million users.  Only one year later, MySpace started draining some of those users who were quick to jump to the newest and the greatest way to exchange acronyms. Facebook Chat rapidly took the front position in 2008 and today we can communicate more quickly and efficiently than ever before.

Google Hangout is now available to all staff and students through your North Penn google login! A communication tool that has become a way of life for us outside of school, has never been part of our work practice or classroom environment.  So instead of sending an email to a colleague with a quick question, send a chat!  Google Hangouts provides another way for us to foster communication.

Just as with any novelty, the mystique of Google Hangouts will fade. Put the chat to work for you throughout your day! Create a large group which includes all of your students (or your department members) and incorporate the chat into different activities. Use your chat for brainstorming or for Think, Pair, Share time. While watching a video, incorporate the chat into a backchannel opportunity. Try letting the students share strategies or evidence while using Hangouts.

To protect our students, any student in the class of 2022 (7th grade or younger) is only able to chat or hangout with others in our North Penn domain.  Additionally, all chats are logged (text, not graphics or video), if you are concerned about something that students may be saying, we can check it out for you.

So, break out of the four walls and try to incorporate a hangout where staff or students can work on projects and share ideas! Allow the students to work with other classes who might be studying similar material or working on a similar project.  Help demystify Google Hangouts, encourage its use, monitor their words, EMBRACE THE CHAT.